by Mike Snider, USA TODAY

by Mike Snider, USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS - Curved Ultra HD TVs caught the eye of many attendees at this week's International Consumer Electronics Show.

But is a curved display really a must-have upgrade for your home theater? That depends on whom you ask.

When Sony joined LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics by announcing a curved display this past summer, the TV maker touted the shape as delivering a more cinematic experience with a wider viewing angle. And the shape made watching TV easier on the eyes, Sony said.

At CES, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai told USA TODAY that consumers are bullish on curved displays. "Some people actually like it very much. I personally think it's a great experience because you do have that feeling of being a little bit more surrounded," he said, adding however that "it's not for everyone."

"But again it's part of giving consumers a choice," Hirai says. "Personally, I like it. After you watch curved TV for a while and then you just watch a flat panel, it looks like, 'What's wrong with this panel?' "

Sony's curved HDTV has been available since October ($3,999). Meanwhile, LG and Samsung are adding curves to some of their Ultra HD displays - UHD sets have four times the pixels of current HDTVs.

Curved displays will also provide more immersive viewing, almost akin to IMAX and 3-D video, said Samsung executive HS Kim at the company's unveiling of several new curved Ultra HD displays ranging from 55 inches to 77 inches (due later this year, no prices announced). "You can feel that effect," he said.

But some question that proclamation and argue that curved displays may provide a smaller sweet spot for viewers. "Curved provides a narrower viewing sweet spot not a wider one," says John Sciacca of Custom Theater & Audio, an installer of audio/video, security and automation systems in Murrells Inlet, S.C.

For displays, at least, curved is a "marketing gimmick," says Sciacca, also a columnist for Sound & Vision magazine. "I know that research has gone into finding the ideal curve for the ideal seating distance, but I think that it is still limiting its best results for a much narrower viewing position. Curve has real benefits for front projection as it has to do with how the light hits the screen at different points, and a curve helps with brightness uniformity and geometry. â?¦ At the small screen, it has no advantage."

Kurt Kennobie, owner of K2 Audio Video in Phoenix, agrees. "It seems like a marketing thing to me, rather than substantive," he says. Kennobie said his favorite display at the CES was Samsung's 110-inch Ultra HD TV - a flat display, rather than the curved 105-inch UHD set.

Flat was also where it was at for Willard Wells, a K2 Audio Video employee with Kennobie. "I don't care for it," he says. "The only place that is good (to watch) is directly in front."